Book Stuff

I've done two appearances for Ferradiddledumday in the past few days—both times with my Lake Writer buddies, Sally Roseveare and Karen Wrigley.

Last Thursday, we were part of Friends of the Roanoke County Library's "Virginia Voices" series. Each of us set up a display. Here I am holding up Ferradiddledumday.

Karen, whose book is Beyond Woofs and Whinnies, talked about animal communicating . . . 

. . . and introduced the audience to her assistant, Franklin the golden retriever:

Sally, whose latest Smith Mountain Lake murder mystery is Secrets at Sweetwater Cove, told how she kills people.

Marcie, Angie, and Kim—members of my SCBWI crit group—were there to give me support.

Franklin had a message for Marcie: "Play more."

Every writer (and aspiring writer) should have a supportive crit group—a small number of like-minded people with common goals. Our crit group focuses on picture books, middle grade novels, and young adult novels. Angie's YA novel, Momento Nora, will be published by Marshall Cavendish in 2011, but you can watch the book trailer now:

On Saturday, Karen Sally, and I did a book-signing at Ram's Head Book Shop at Towers Mall in Roanoke. Ram's Head is a wonderful independent bookstore; the staff did an outstanding job of having our books on the table when we arrived, serving refreshments, and generally making us feel welcome.

Ram's Head also had good wi-fi. I'd brought my laptop to show pictures from Ferradiddledumday, but I also posted up-dates to Facebook while we signed and talked to visitors. One of my FB friends, Melanie, stopped by with her kids. She bought a copy of Ferradiddledumday for her son, who promised to write a review when he'd read it. Less than an hour later, I received this Facebook message from her:

Comments like that make my day. I can't wait to read his review!

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